Dr. Anita Donaghy:

That is certainly one of the issues we referred to in the longer document. We discussed the loss of mixed farming and the fact that farms would all have been lower-intensity and more diverse in the past. Everyone would have had a little patch of oats and there would have been some grazing. That mixture allowed for an environment rich in wildlife. Inputs were far lower and management was far more sympathetic to wildlife. Hay meadows were cut late and there were no multiple cults of silage, for example. All of those things would have been important in producing an environment rich in wildlife. Gradually, different elements of mixed farms have been lost. The loss of our small patches of arable land has been significant for species such as the yellowhammer, the skylark and the corn bunting. One reason we have lost the corn bunting is the loss of mixed farming. The vast majority of yellowhammers now are in the east, where the larger more intense arable farms are found. It has definitely been significant.

The abandonment of farming is a reflection of the lack of supports for low-intensity beef and sheep farming. The money is to be made in dairy, as committee members know. There is not enough support for low-intensity beef farming. Yet, that is the kind of farming that supports the curlew and some of the other farming birds. If we are really serious about retaining these farming birds, then we need to give more supports to farmers who have far lower-intensity farming systems that are friendlier to wildlife. There is no doubt about that. My colleagues may want to add something on that issue.

Deputy Ó Cuív referred to mink. We are sure mink are having a serious impact on a wide range of ground-nesting birds, but it is not only mink. Mink have been reintroduced. They are a non-native species but some of our native species are equally devastating, including foxes, otters and pine martens. All these species are having a severe impact on ground-nesting birds like the curlew or the lapwing. These birds are declining rapidly and we are really concerned. We have to address these issues by tacking predation and controlling some of these species. Some of our members do not like it, but in a way we have to take measures to protect species on the verge of extinction. Under a European innovation programme that we are running with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in south Lough Corrib in Galway, we are working with farmers to train them in techniques to control these predators. This is an area where there are vulnerable populations of ground-nesting birds. It does not arise everywhere; it is only in a small number of key hotspots where this needs to be done. We are not shirking that issue.

Deputy Ó Cuív asked about the corncrake. The number of corncrake we have comes to approximately 150 pairs. It has been 20 years since corncrake conservation programmes was initiated by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Then the National Parks and Wildlife Service took it over. The population has fluctuated up and down but it has not really changed all that much. There has not been wide-scale recovery of corncrake populations. They are becoming more and more marginalised and confined the islands mentioned by Deputy Ó Cuív. We find that the numbers on the mainland are going to continue to go down. They are still found on islands where there is still some low-intensity farming but they are also found on islands where the farming has more or less disappeared. We really know what needs to be done.

It is not a particularly complex problem. We know what needs to be done to allow corncrake populations to recover and increase. There are not enough resources being put in to do it. That is the bottom line. Perhaps my colleagues might wish to add something to these points.